An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by John Wakeman-Linn visited Freetown during September 14-27, 2016 to conduct the sixth and final review under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF).[1]read more

Sierra Leone is launching a major citizen action campaign against petty corruption in its public sector. The country’s new Pay No Bribe process hinges on an online reporting platform which makes it easier for people who are asked for a bribe by a public servant, to report it to the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).read more

Neoliberal reforms in Africa, increasing global commodity prices and rising global resource demands have led to significant economic turnovers within the recent past decade for some African nations – Libya, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Egypt, among the rest . In accordance, there has been a substantive growth in the extractive industry investment, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. A surge of investment within extractive industry has brought about a diverse number of feedback in mineral-rich countries. In Ghana, there has been a boom investment towards artisanal mining while violating national mining principles and regulations and also neglecting Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR), main focus is trade! The situation is similar in most mineral-rich countries— varied concerns from society including rejection of the extractive industry or acceptance with high expectation of increased economic status of the society arising from gainful employment, and protest over labour conditions.read more

In Sierra Leone, fashion designer Jenneh Mason is best known for frocks and fashion shows. She also dreams of public playgrounds, lots of them, dotted all across the country bringing safe places to play for children who are unlikely to have ever seen one, imagined one or even understand the concept of safe play. She is halfway through her first – on a tricky waterside location in the capital city Freetown- and these days is much more preoccupied with the engineering requirements of retaining walls than the price of fabric.read more

Orange announces today that, together with its Senegal-based partner Sonatel, it has completed the acquisition of 100% of the mobile operator Airtel in Sierra Leone. Since the signature of an agreement with Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) BV (“Airtel”) in January 2016, Orange has obtained all the official approbations necessary to complete this transaction.read more

In his recent article, “Just Say No to Another Failed State,” published by Foreign Policy, Lester Munson claims that the only solution to the long standing issue between Western Sahara and Morocco is autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty. Problematically, however, the article lacks context and is overly simplistic, is strewn with inaccuracies and errors, and is heavily tinged with paternalistic overtones.read more

Invest Sierra Leone, the only annual forum dedicated to encouraging investment into Sierra Leone, returns to London on 5 May 2016. Endorsed by the Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA), Invest Sierra Leone is a not-for-profit collaboration between Freetown Insight magazine, Sierra Leone’s only business journal, and leading global law firm – Herbert Smith Freehills LLP.read more

The Government of Sierra Leone represented by the Ministry of Energy/Abu Dhabi, UAE, March 09, 2016 is pleased to announce that Sierra Leone has made a number of critical steps to commence the implementation of the Solar Park Freetown Project. These important steps include, the ratification of the ADFD Loan by the Sierra Leone Government, establishment of a working Project Implementation Unit (PIU) at the Ministry of Energy in Sierra Leone, and the recent re-appointment of the UAE based Advanced Science and Innovation Company (ASIC) LLC as the Project Manager and Lead of the Solar Park Freetown Project and the EPC, Mulk-OGI both as Consortium. The progress made in these areas was notified to ADFD and IRENA during meetings held on the sidelines of the 2016 World Future Energy Summit (WFES), where the Government of Sierra Leone, Ambassador to the UAE and the Ministry of Energy PIU met with ADFD and IRENA representatives and the Project Manager, ASIC.read more

A national consultation kicks off in Sierra Leone today to help the country’s small and medium enterprises reach new export markets, and re-orient an economy still reeling from the Ebola crisis towards sustainable growth.read more

The incursion of Donald Trump into mainstream US politics has thoroughly bloodied the waters between the political and the commercial. In polls, his success in business regularly comes up as one of his best assets. The public/private sector debate is at best tricky and Trump’s growing popularity is not making it any less contentious.read more

Schengen in on life support and West African manufacturers should pay close attention. They are already convinced they won’t be able to compete with the cheaper, better quality imports, which will be the inevitable result of a forthcoming EU/Africa free trade agreement. For most, exporting to Europe is a distant dream anyway. Increased border restrictions will make it even more unlikely.read more